Textured foil of the type to which this invention applies is used in packaging of commodities and appears most often in the make-up of retail packages. An example of this type of foil is found in packages designed for marketing of cigarettes. The metallic part of the foil forms an excellent vapor barrier and is desired for this purpose as well as for wrapping and adding attractiveness to the appearance of a pack of cigarettes. In the operation of cigarette packaging machinery it is usual to advance a foil-paper laminate into the equipment at a rate sufficient to supply each pack of cigarettes with the amount of foil necessary to make up a given package. The foil component is combined cooperatively with other components to make up a complete cigarette pack containing a standard number of cigarettes. The package is overwrapped and sealed to make it air tight then placed in a carton.
The prior art devices for processing the foil to emboss it comprise texturing rolls which are of cooperating complementary male and female die members arranged to rotate into register for forming bosses in the foil at the nip of the forming rolls. In one such device, the pair of rolls consist of one roll made with rigid male forming plugs. This is caused to run in compressive contact along a nip line against a roll surface with a resilient polyurethane covering. The foil is pressed into the yieldable surface of the polyurethane covered roll by the male forming bosses to form bosses in the foil.
These above methods are widely used in cigarette making and packaging machinery, but an inherent problem associated with the feeding of the textured foil is caused by the tendency of the textured foil made by former methods to curl and cause it to be difficult to guide through automatic machinery. Tendency to curl requires that more highly engineered guide and control features be provided than for a foil which lies flat. A flat foil will advance a greater distance through packaging machinery without the need for excessive guiding and controlling apparatus specially made for the express purpose of keeping the foil flat while it is manipulated in automatic handling.